Page 34 of Great Uncle Henry (Pride & Prejudice Vagary)
Once everyone was divested of their outerwear, Henry, with Lizzy guiding him, led the others into the drawing room.
It was a tight fit, but everyone found seats.
“My sister asked if these four lovely ladies are my grandchildren, and I said they were not, which is true. As I never married or had children, as much as I see them as such, they are my,” Henry looked in the direction of his sister, “ our great-nieces and your,” he turned his head towards where he thought he heard the rest of the Taylors, “cousins. From the eldest, allow me to introduce Miss Jane Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, who we call Lizzy, Miss Mary, and Miss Catherine, who we call Kitty. They are three and twenty, twenty, eighteen, and sixteen, respectively. There is one more Bennet sister, Lydia, who is fourteen.”
“Allow me to make known my son, Henry and his wife, Debby. Their children, my grandchildren, are Roger, Elli, Lola, Felix, and Lil. They range in age from five and twenty to eleven. Roger celebrated a birthday on board the ship. I am your great-aunt.” Felicity turned and glared at her brother.
“You and I need to speak of all of the costs you have expended for our journey.”
“We shall, Sister. I promise I will explain all,” Henry vowed.
“Before you ask, there is a good reason we did not bring you to Longbourn. As you may have guessed, this is Purvis Lodge. Your family will stay here as long as they desire. The only drawback is it is not the most spacious of houses. One thing will help if you, Fee, agree to reside with me at Longbourn’s dower house.
There is more than enough space for you and for others to visit you when they so desire.
” Henry turned to the four Bennet sisters.
“Will you take your cousins, other than Roger, to see the estate? I am sure they will be interested in the horses in the stables.”
Elizabeth did not miss how her newly met cousins reacted with pleasure to talk of horses. “Of course, we will,” she stated. The Bennet sisters stood and led the four youngest Taylors from the drawing room.
“Everything I am about to tell you is known to Lizzy, and portions of it are known to her three sisters you met here today. Let us discuss Longbourn first. Fee, our nephew, Thomas, is the most selfish and indolent man I have ever met…” Henry related all, especially the way Thomas used the worry over the entail and her future to vex his wife.
He related an accurate picture of Fanny, her lack of intelligence, penchant for gossiping, and her matchmaking ways.
“My hope is that I can get Thomas to agree to take this estate, which has a competent steward, and allow my nephew, Henry, to become the master of Longbourn before Thomas’s demise.
All of you will move to Longbourn if he agrees.
The manor house is roughly twice as large as this one. ”
“I think I will take you up on your offer and live in the dower house with you,” Felicity decided.
“Gammy, why move? How will we see you each day?” Roger pondered.
“Riding across the fields, it is a ride of less than two miles. The dower house has more than enough bedchambers, so, like your Bennet cousins, well, the ones you met today, any of you who would like to spend a night or more with us will be very welcome,” Henry explained.
“The entrance to the estate of Longbourn is less than a half mile from here. If things go according to plan, your Gammy , as you call her, could live in the manor house with you, or she would be less than two miles away.”
“Henry, whose estate is this?” Felicity asked pointedly.
“Mine. That is the next thing I need to tell you,” Henry replied.
“Fee, you were already in the Americas when I left for India in 1765. There I found my fortune; beyond anything I had ever imagined…” The more Henry told, the more the mouths of the Taylors who were present fell open.
“So, I hope you can see what I laid out to get you here was a drop in the bucket. For the reasons I told you about our nephew and his wife, not only is he not my heir, but they know nothing of my fortune. I would like to keep this information private. Especially as Lizzy is my heir, and word of my fortune would bring fortune hunters flocking like ants to spilled honey. Each of the Bennet sisters you met today have been dowered…” Henry related all regarding the dowries and the protections to secure the funds from their parents and other fortune hunters.
He explained all about Lydia and why she would receive no more than five thousand pounds unless she began to mature and behave with propriety.
“Is our youngest Bennet great-niece truly that bad?” Felicity verified.
“Worse,” Henry confirmed. He was not surprised, but neither of the Taylor men asked why they were not his heir, and there were no questions about whether they would inherit anything from Henry.
“In the next fortnight, Gardiner, who is Fanny Bennet’s brother and a business partner of mine, will visit along with my London solicitor.
I intend to dower the three Taylor girls with the same amount as Jane, Mary, and Kitty.
Roger, you will have a healthy legacy, and Felix will have the same as his sisters or one of my estates and a legacy. ”
“Uncle Henry, as much as I appreciate it, we do not expect anything from you. I have a reasonable amount left from the sale of my farm, so we are comfortably well off,” Taylor objected .
“Which is all the more reason I will make the changes I intend to make. By the by, I recommend you invest with Gardiner as much as you feel comfortable doing. He is able to return between eight and twelve percent on a consistent basis,” Henry responded.
He grinned at his sister. “Do you think our late father would be impressed? You did very well in the Americas and have returned with your family to save his beloved estate, and I did a little better than he predicted I would in India.”
“If I understand correctly, if my cousin, Thomas Bennet, agrees to move to this estate and we take Longbourn, Roger and I can break the entail as he is already past his majority?” Taylor verified.
“You should speak to Phillips to confirm. That is Frank Phillips, the solicitor in Meryton, and married to Fanny’s older sister.
He will keep what information we entrust to him confidential, and he will advise you on the legalities, but I believe that, yes, as you stated the facts, they are correct.
Given my Bennet nephew’s selfishness, do not mention your intention to break the entail when we speak to him.
To that, I suggest we allow you to settle in the neighbourhood for a while first and establish yourselves here.
In a few months, we will approach Thomas together,” Henry proposed.
“I assume you do not want me to share with my younger siblings, even though Elli is completely trustworthy and will not say something inadvertently,” Roger wondered.
“When I have some time with Elli, if you think she needs to know, I will tell her.” Henry paused. “I assume that Elli, Lola, and Lil are not their given names?”
“No, indeed,” Debby responded. “They are Eleanor, Dolores, and Lillian.”
“The Gardiners have a Lillian; they call her Lilly, and she is almost the same age as your Lil. I will have my secretary send a note and ask Gardiner to bring Lilly along when he comes to see us,” Henry suggested.
“I am sure Lil would like to meet Lilly,” Debby stated.
“Henry, you use a secretary. Has that to do with your clouded eyes? Do you have cataracts in your eyes, Brother?” Felicity enquired.
“I do; all I see are shapes and shades of light now…” Henry explained about his secretary, his nurse, who was the former governess, and how his Bennet great-nieces take pleasure in assisting him.
“Before they clouded over, my eyes had seen many wondrous sights around this world of ours. I have nothing to repine.”
“Then, I will most definitely live in Longbourn’s dower house. Even though our great-nieces and Mrs Bellamy are there to assist you, as your slightly older sister, I too will be there,” Felicity insisted.
“Having you live there will please me greatly, Fee,” Henry responded, his voice thick with emotion.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“The horses are all of a good quality, not as good as Indian ponies, but I suppose they will do,” Felix stated after he and his three sisters had been shown the stables.
“We will have to get more side-saddles,” Jane stated, ignoring Felix’s jibe at English horses.
“What is a side-saddle ?” Lil asked.
“That is a saddle most ladies use in this country. It is so they remain ladylike and do not ride astride like men,” Mary explained.
Elizabeth had to fight not to scoff. She hated the side-saddle.
“Pa taught us to ride when we were young, and we have always ridden correctly without that dangerous saddle they make ladies ride in this country. There is nothing unladylike about the way we ride!” Elli insisted.
“We know that most in the cities where we came from ride with that saddle, but Pa never forced us to use it.”
“I happen to agree with Elli. I hate having to use the side-saddle and wish I was allowed to ride astride like our cousins do. In March of next year, when I turn one and twenty, I can make my own decision about how to ride,” Elizabeth agreed.
“Just because our cousins do things differently than we do, does not make them wrong.”
The four from the Americas decided they could easily like Cousin Lizzy. It did not take long for the eight cousins to begin to feel comfortable with one another. They began to discover they had far more in common than they initially thought they would.